Container



Jy 23,1946. j E. YELLIN 2,404,558

CONTAINER Filed July '7, 1944 jig', j.

Patente-d July 23,4 1946 UNITED STATE S PAT ENT OFFICE CONTAINER.

Edward Yellin, Chicag ol]l. Appli-cationJuly'v, 19441, seria1N..54r;s511

(o1. 22a-a5) 1 Claim. l

The present invention relatestoimprovements infcontainers, and more;particularly to aat circular container of a kindV commonly used tocontain? cosmetics,y such.. as for example powder, rouge, etc..

Containers ofi the kind to-Which this invention pertains usually includea shallow circular bottom portion anda circular top or cover portionhingedly connected. together at their peripheral edge in suchma-nner asto-enable the cover portion` tofbemoved about apivot/into an open orclosedY position. The bottom and cover portions are eachiashionedy in asingle piece. from suitable shapeV retaining, ma-terial, such as forexample p1astics,.wood bone, metal, or the like; and in known.. types ofcontainers these parts are hingedly,Y connectedby means of a separatepin or the. like which is extended through. complemental hinge elementsformed onor otherwise attached to the. parts.. Obviously. therequirement. of separate hinge means results in costly assemblyoperations.

,they present instance, the complemental hinge elements arev formedywith intermatching, means to eect thehinge connection between the.

parts;. hence it. is an. object of thepresent invention to provide acontainer of` thev character disclosed herein with complementalintermatching hinge elements ofy a kind capable: of being. easily andquickly connected together..

Knowntypes of. containers of-` the kind exempliiied. herein usuallyrequire the formationY of suitable inter-matching means atthe free edgesof the complementalpartssoas to. retain the cover portion closed. Inorder. for such intermatching.

means to be. highly eiective, itis evidentv that suchmeans must resist.norma-l forces tendingY to open thev container and as a consequenceconsidmeanssto-r cause said coverr to be-'urgedV into a fullyclosedpositioni or aiullyfopened position upon-the initialvapplicationof forceonly.

Another object ofY the invention is to providea verypractical container.of the`l kind disclosed tion` and; claim and are' illustrated in theaccom pany-ing drawing which, by wayy ofT illustratiom, shows a`preferred,y embodimentl and theprinciple.

l thereof, and whichy is.- considered to be, the: best erable eiort isrequired. to effectintendedseparation to open the container. such acontainer is initiated by engaging opposed free edges ofthe, bottom andcover portions with the linger nails and exerting force in oppositedirections with the result that the nger nails frequently are broken orotherwise damaged. It is therefore another object of the invention toprovide a container With means to retain the cover in a closed positionof a kind that will resist `normal forces tending to open the container,and at the same time offer but a minimum amount of resistance to forcesapplied for the purpose of effooting the opening thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container of a kindhaving a hingedly connected cover movable to open and closed positions,with Usually opening ofY mode. contemplatedy forapplying that,principle. Other embodiments of the invention, embodying the-same andyequivalentpiinciplm may be usedand structural changes mayV be madev asdesired by those skilled in the art without departing, from1 the.presentinvention and the purviewy of the appended claim.

In the drawing,

Figwl is. a'rtop plan View ing,features off thepresent invention.

Eig'.y 2 isf a diametri'oal sectional view taken substantially on `line:2--2 of Fig. 1.r

Fig. 3- is. an, enlarged fragmentary elevational viewv of one endY of*ythecontainer asviewed along, line13-3fofFig. 2; f Fig. 4 is an enlargedfragmentaryl bottom planvv Viewoff the container. v

Fig.A 5` is af fragmentaryl sectional detail... View.' taken on line=5,--5 on Fig. 3, showing the cover closed.

Fig: 6 isa" sectional detail ViewV substantially; likev Fig; 5` butshowing tion.

The f container, illustrated drawing;A preferably' is'- formedi fromsuitable shapearetaining material.. such' as.' forv example;l plastica,and it; consists. of a: bottom' portionA I-lr. andy a cover. portion.I2; each .of Which is; substany tially circular in shape. The bottomportion Il is provided with a circular recess or chamber I3, adapted tocontain a cosmetic, surrounded by an Aupstanding flange I4, the outercircular surface 1 i5 of which is spaced inwardly of the periphery ofthe bottom portion Il, A diametrically arranged rib 'IE is formed on thebottom face of the bottom portion Il and one end of said rib extendsupwardly at the peripheral margin of said bottom portion a suiiicientdistance to dispose its end l1 closely adjacent to but spaced a shortvdistance from the top surface of the Ibottom portion. A similar ri-b I8is formed on the outside of aaconrtainer embody? the cover in" openposit'he. accompanyil'lgI 4 face of the cover portion I2 and this riblikewise extends downwardly over the peripheral margin of said coverportion. When the two parts are the cover portion I2 so as to therebyprovide a tightly closed container to prevent spilling of its contents.

As previously noted hereinabove, the cover Dortion I2 is connected tothe bottom portion II inv such manner as to be moved in an arc towardsVY and away i'rom said bottom portion, preferably as by means of a hingegenerally indicated at 2l.

This hinge has its complemental parts formed integral with one or theother of the two con` tainer parts and, as best illustrated inY Figs- 3'to 6, it includes a pair of spaced ears 22 extending outwardly radiallyfrom the peripheral edge' of the bottom portion II. These earspreferably constitute continuations of the reinforcing rib IIi on saidbottom portion. The spaced ears 22 are each formed with a slot 23 ontheir inwardly disposed'rfaces, and said slots 23 open' upon the bottomedges of said ears for a purpose to be more/fully explained hereinafter.yThe reinforcing rib I6 is provided, at the end merging with the ears22, with a relatively thin wal1 portion or VhapV 24 which in the presentinstance extends between the ears 22 a sufcient distance so as tonormally underlie Vthe area in transverse alignment-with the slots 23opening onto the bottom edges of said ears.- -The continuation 24 of theribr I6 is-separated from the ears 22 by slots 25 Vso as tothereby beentirely free of said earsV and thereby be capable of flexing Aoutof itsnormal plan'e *shouldV force be applied thereto.' The ears 22 and ilap24 provide, in eifectg'a peripheral recess. f

' Olne endof the rib I8 on the cover portion I2 is provided with adepending portion 26 of suf-l ficient width to extend freely into'theperipheral recess between the ears 22 on the bottom portion II when thecover is mounted over the bottom portion.,y The part 26', whichconstitutes one ele,- ment of the hinge structure; is formed onits'lateral edges, and adjacent its bottomY edge, Vwith outwardlyextending bearing portions 21' which extend into and are journalledwithin the bearing slots 23 in the lugs 22; Y Y l Upon reference toFigs. and 6, it will be noted that the coverv portionv I2 is hingedlymounted, infa mannerA to bedesc'ribed presently, and by means of thestructure described hereinabove, to

the bottom Yportion II sov as to be capable of being L1` pivotally movedinto an open or closed position with respect to said bottom portion.Assembly o f the cover portion and the bottom portion preferably isaccomplished by initial insertion of one oflthe bearing journals 2'Iinto a related bearing slot 23. The flap 24 is then flexed downwardlysuiciently to enable the other bearing journal When the cover portion isin its closed position, as best illustrated in Fig. 5, the bottom edge2B of its depending portion 26 bears tightly against the iiap extension24 on the bottom portion and the cover is thereby urged into and held insuch closed position by the* resiliency of said flap. When the coverportion is to be moved into open position, the initial resistance of theflap 24 is overcome whereupon said flap again acts .upon the dependingportion 26 to urge the cover linto its fully opened position, asillustrated in Fig. 6. Thus it Will be observed that applicant hasprovided a hinged structure embodying novel structural characteristicsaffording means to insure a full closing of the container and fullopening thereof with the application of but a minimum amount of effort.f l

The cover is retained in its closed position by frictional coactionbetween the outside surface I5 of the circular flange I4' and the insidewall of the cover recess I9. Such frictional coaction is attainedthrough slight flexing ofthe depending hinge element 25 during theclosing operation at which time the circular wall of the recess I9 isforcibly urged downwardly over the outside surface i5 of the circularange I 4. To open the container force is applied by any means, such asby the lingers of the user, to the opposed shoulders I'I and 29 at theends ofthe reinforcing ribs I6 and I3 respectively, which force issuicient to cause initial separation of the cover from the circular angeI4, whereupon the resiliencyof the hinge element effects further openinginto fully opened position.

`It should be apparent that applicant has provided a novelcontainerembodying structural features particularly` intended to simplify theoperations involved in manufactureand to reduce the costs of manufactureand that the invention is capable of being embodied in forms other thanthe precise construction disclosed herein withl out departing from thespirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

I claim: A container having a bottom portion' and a cover portion, apair of ears extended outwardly from an edge of the bottom portion, abearing slot on the inside face of each ear and openingonto their bottomedges, a complemental element on an edge of the cover portion disposedbetween said, Y

ears, means on'said element engageable in and rested at the upper endsof said slots, and means in the bottom portion lying in the bottom planeof and extended between said ears beneath'the complemental .element toprevent unintended withdrawal of said engageable means EDWARDYiiiiinni.l

